Last week was my son’s 10th birthday and as most parents do, we are trying to pick an appropriate present for his age. Interesting thing is; the older they get, the job is becoming easier and easier for us – they already know what they want!

Our son wanted an iPod Touch. He already knew the features, in what colours they come, and which colour he’d want… Everything was decided, easy task for parents. Of course, we asked him, why iPod – he said:

“All my friends have it!”

Simple. the force that influences you every day when it comes to decision making, from the biggest decisions like which school to choose for your children, down to the smaller every day choices like where to go for lunch, is called social proof.

But what about us in business, how do we use Social Proof in our marketing?

Marketing, to a large degree is about social proof. In an article about social proof, TechCrunch clearly identified 5 different categories of social proof:

1. Expert Social Proof: Approval from a credible expert, such as an infdustry blogger or other authority

2. Celebrity Social Proof: Approval or endorsement from celebrities, especially those that are unpaid

3. “Wisdom of the crowds” Social Proof: Approval from a large group of people (like why you were Nike shoes)

4. “Wisdom of your friends” Social Proof: Approval from your friends or people you know (like the above case mentioned about iPod Touch)

5. User Social Proof: Approval from current users of the product/service, such as customer testimonials, case studies, and reviews.

Testimonials are great form of user social proof, publishing testimonials and case studies allows you to highlight the positive experiences of your customers and evoke the “I’ll have what she’s having”effect.

While written testimonials are OK and are widely used in marketing, video testimonials are by far more effective. For several reasons;

First one is the fact that many people are not 100% convinced in the authenticity of a written testimonial, secondly the nature of video is that is more persuasive, you can here the customer, see it and pick up that non-verbal communication that reassures us – this is genuine, as human eye (and ear) is very well trained to pick up when something is fake.

Finally, video testimonial can be easily amplified, for example; firstly by number of views the video attracts, number of likes is also a good social proof. You can track how many views you are getting from other sites, from your channel, or from website. A written testimonial is just sitting on your website and is only accessed by your website visitors.

Video testimonial can be further shared on your Facebook page, by embedding, in your tweets and on your LinkedIn page (both personal and company page).

Then you can share it in your blog and all those views are adding up and contributing to your brand’s social proof and ultimately to better conversion.

No matter what businesses or orgnisation you are coming from, video marketing should not be ignored especially in this new social world.

According to Google (2011) 68% of business travelers watch TRAVEL related videos online. Among those, 68% are thinking about a trip. Also according to Google 46% of personal travelers watch travel related videos, vs. 36% just two years ago. Google/OTX, The Traveler’s Road to Decision 2011

When you add to that recent finding by SearchEngineWatch that latest Panda update from Google heavily favours sites with video content, reflecting consumer demand for online video, the message is clear. online video is very important for attracting traffic to your webiste

If You Build It, They Will Come?

Sounds like an easy task; show the location and its attractions, if it’s a hotel show the amenities, how the rooms look like, the food, post it on You Tube and voila!

But the phone doesn’t ring, and after two months your number of views is still at 27, most of which are views from your staff and friends.

This problem is pretty common and it’s not reserved only to small business and small hotel operators, even the big boys in the industry, with big budgets are struggling to find the right formula. Big budget is not a guarantee that your video will be successful.

Those videos can be of high production value, but they lack few key ingredients that can make them successful online. Producing for online delivery and social media is quite different from TV style commercials or from old style “corporate video” with your CEO in a suit and tie talking about mission statement and company direction.

The Secret Sauce

The recipe for success includes few different ingredients, but secret sauce is primarily in storytelling. In this testimonial video below, Connie Trathen explains why the Vue Grand Hotel’s video was so successful;

Now we’ve seen the success of nearly a year of having Wedding Reception video, that’s what inspired us and encouraged us to now do Conference Video…

With over 3,000 unique views thus far, the success of this video is not accidental, and these views are incremental, measurable and producing a constant flow of enquiries to the business.

Create Video That Works

Complete ecosystem – set of established procedures (from production, post-production to distribution)

Proven record of running a successful video marketing campaign

Networkability, as you distribution is online, your producer must be social media active

Understanding of Content Marketing and Inbound Marketing

Understanding of Organic SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and impact of video on your Google search ranking (websites with video are 53 times more likely to appear on 1st page of Google compared to websites with only text – Forrester Research)

Storytelling

Creative flair

Online video has changed the rules, reducing costs so as to make video accessible to businesses of all shapes and sizes. And social media has enabled every business to become a publisher.

Last but not the least, your promotional video is easily repurposed into other media like blog (or vlog), or into testimonial video, or a training video. This is important as research also shows that travelers watch online videos in all phases of travel planning.

Travelers view videos online during all phases of trip planning both for business and for personals trips (start from Slide 24).

Finally, you can watch Vue Grand’s video below, and as Connie mentioned in her testimonial above, few months later they produced another video, “Vue Grand Conference Venue” with similar success.

GM’s move to cancel their $10 mil advertising package with Facebook was well reported in media and blogosphere around the world, but we rarely heard the whole story.

The real story is that GM is still “friends” with Facebook, they are still investing $30 mil a year by producing content for their Facebook page. Their page is bursting with videos, pictures and stories.

It’s Supposed to be Social

Honestly, I always thought that advertising on Facebook wouldn’t work, and that’s mainly for one big reason – it’s inherently wrong and it’s contravening with the whole idea of social media, especially Facebook – it’s supposed to be social.

When you are at a social gathering, whether on Facebook or in real life, on your child’s basketball game, you are there to socialise – not to sell or being sold on. Social media is a great tool for content marketing, for inbound marketing (pull vs push marketing) so selling there is just not appropriate. They are again interrupting you, you were there to chat with family and friends, exchange the photos, etc, not to buy stuff.

This is the reason why Google ads are working and Facebook ads are not (according to WordStream research), when on Google you are looking for a product or a service and advertising at the moment of buying decision is welcome, it’s actually perfect moment – you are not interrupted.

Content is King

GM released the following statement on the matter:

… we are reassessing our advertising, but remain committed to an aggressive content strategy with all of our products and brands, as it continues to be a very effective tool for engaging with our customers.

Facebook was struggling for years to come up with a monetising format and to prove ROI for facebook ads.

So, it’s only logical move from GM to move their resources where their mouth is. Apart from their Facebook page, GM has also a very vibrant You Tube channel called “gmblogs”. They opened their channel in 2006 and now features over 300 videos, more than 3 mil views and 1,700 subscribers. The YT channel is actually content creation fuel for their group of blogs gmblogs that includes 7 different blogs.

What’s in common for their You Tube channel and their blogs is storytelling, powerful stories told by ordinary people, their staff, their customers and others.

Companies have long emphasized the role of content for providing customers and prospects with useful information and meaningful insight, and the rise of digital distribution and production channels over past years has certainly propelled content marketing to new heights and investments.

With distribution channels (You Tube, Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, and other networks) now leveling the playing field, by being available to businesses of all shapes and sizes, it is the right time for you to take advantage of this powerful marketing tool.

Storytelling and content is so important and critical to attracting and retaining customers, so every business’ first goal should be how to integrate them into their PR, marketing, social media and overall corporate image.

Please tell us what are your challenges in creating more content for your business.

“fast forward your marketing”

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When I received a phone call in the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day, from APCO’s Director Robert Anderson, the last thing I expected to hear was: “Mio, got anything planned for Valentine’s Day?”

Few good laughs later, he opened his cards and explained that this years APCO Franchisee of the Year Awards Night is under the theme – “Winning Hearts and Minds”.

This is the 4th year in a row that Digital Video Vault was in charge of covering their biggest night (and day) of the year, filming the event, producing the DVD, an online video for You Tube and a dedicated microsite live within 24 hrs with images they can share with their franchisees, suppliers and guests.

The day starts with Suppliers’ Session seminars and keynotes from various figures with background in economics and business analytics.

Night is always reserved for gala dinner with Awards Ceremony and topped of with an inspirational guest speaker.

What I really wanted to share with you is the feeling you carry after an APCO event. Top companies are expected to organise outstanding events; great locations (last 2 years it was Park Hyatt, before that Grand Hyatt), well known keynote speakers and celebrity inspirational guest speakers.

But what is fascinating is that family feeling; you can expect to see the same APCO team, same event organiser, same businesses partnering to deliver another perfect event. They soon make you feel as part of the family.

So, with naming this year event “Winning Hearts & Minds” APCO management wanted to pay special tribute to their customers and those serving on the front lines of customer service.

In an atmosphere like that it’s really not hard to give that little extra, to exceed their expectations and deliver an outstanding video, so, when it comes to Winning Hearts & Minds, they’ve certainly won mine.

“fast forward your marketing”

Subscribe to our You Tube channel and get instant updates on local businesses producing their videos. You’ll also receive Video Tips Series on how to stay ahead of your competition with video marketing. Case Studies and Success Stories. For all of you still without a You Tube channel, please visit our Facebook page.